The present invention relates to computer managed communication networks such as the World Wide Web (Web) and, particularly, to the management and effective operation of Web Sites from which Web documents, such as Web pages and Web programs, are distributed in response to user requests.
The 1990""s have been marked by a technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. The effect has, in turn, driven technologies which have been known and available but relatively quiescent over the years. A major one of these technologies is the Internet or Web related distribution of documents including media and programs. The convergence of the electronic entertainment and consumer industries with data processing exponentially accelerated the demand for wide ranging communication distribution channels and the Web or Internet, which had quietly existed for over a generation as a loose academic and government data distribution facility, reached xe2x80x9ccritical massxe2x80x9d and commenced a period of phenomenal expansion. With this expansion, businesses and consumers have direct access to all matter of documents including media and computer programs.
In addition, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which had been the documentation language of the Internet or Web for years, offered direct links between Web pages. This even further exploded the use of the Internet or Web. Because of the vast number of users who now have access to the Web, the demand for Web documents can be very volatile. Since the Web and Web documents are frequently the subject of media attention, the public demand for Web documents can change rapidly. A Web document which has been getting only casual user attention may suddenly become the subject of great media attention with the result that the hit rate for the Web document soars. The hit rate is a measure of the frequency with which a Web document is accessed and is, thus, understood to cover the number of requests for the document over a determined period of time.
Web documents are provided from a Web distribution site usually made up of one or more server computers which access the document from a resource database in response to a user request sent over the Web through a Web browser on the user""s receiving Web station. Significant Web distribution sites are made up of a plurality of server computers coordinated through a primary one of said servers. Such significant Web distribution sites usually serve large institutions such as corporations, universities, retail stores or governmental agencies. These distribution sites may also provide to smaller businesses or organizations support for and distribution of individual Web pages created, owned and hosted by the individual small businesses and organizations.
In such Web distribution sites, each of the Web documents or pages are assigned to one of the server computers which supports and distributes the respective Web documents or pages. Any surge in demand or hit rate for a particular page at such a Web distribution site could, at times, present problems which would significantly slow the access to the page or document or even choke off the distribution of the document.
The present invention provides a system whereby the Web distribution site may monitor hit rates for the Web documents distributed through the site and apply its server computer resources to meet surges in hit rates for the various Web documents.
In its broadest aspects, the present invention provides a Web server system for accessing said Web documents from resource databases and transmitting said Web documents onto said Web comprising a plurality of server computers of different computer powers at a resource location, a plurality of Web documents, each accessible from said resource database by a designated at least one of said server computers, means for monitoring the rate of user hits for each of said plurality of Web documents, and means for designating the server computers for said respective Web documents based upon said rate of user hits. The means for designating said server computers designate the server computers of the most computer power for the Web documents having the highest hit rate. If needed, a plurality of said server computers may be designated for the Web documents having the highest hit rates.
The Web site server distribution system may further include means for setting selected levels of increase in the rate of user hits for each of said plurality of Web documents, and means responsive to said level for one of said plurality of Web documents for changing the order of designation of server computers for said respective Web documents. This changed order of designation may be ordered with the server computer with the highest computer power designated for the Web document with the highest rate of hits down to the server computer with the lowest computer power designated for the Web document with the lowest rate of hits.
The server distribution system may be set up so that there is a primary server computer, and said means for designating the server computers for said respective Web documents is included in said primary server computer.
The present invention may also be applied to a method of Web document distribution from a Web resource site having a plurality of server computers of different computer powers which comprises storing at said Web resource site a plurality of source Web documents, each stored document having content controlled by a respective host, distributing the content of each of said stored source documents to Web receiving display stations in response to hits for said documents made from said receiving display stations, monitoring the rate of user hits for each of said stored plurality of source Web documents, and designating the server computers for said respective Web documents based upon said rate of user hits.
With this approach, each Web document host may be charged a distribution fee related to said rate of user hits for each document. This process could involve setting a selected level of increase in the rate of user hits for each of said plurality of Web documents. Then, in response to reaching this level of increase in the rate of user hits for one of said plurality of Web documents, the host of the documents could be offered an increase in said distribution fee, and the order of designation of server computers for said respective Web documents could be changed responsive to said host accepting said level of increase in said distribution fee.